The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1887-10-07
CONFEDERATE SURVIVORS.
Analysis by a Southerner of the Con-
federate Army.
TSDecIaI COrroSnOndpnCe

Especial Correspondence
NEW York, Sept .l-"You are away off
in your notions about the Confederates in the
SOUTH" said Il member of Georgia regiment
to me the other day-"away off can show
you that they are very few indeed compared
with the Federal survivors"
"Why, there certainly are several thou
sands Confederates in this very city," re-
piled, "and would not your muster rolls show
how many survivedg
ave have none-you all got 'em at the sur
render. But, look here, how many actual
men do you suppose there were in the Confed-
crate army, not counting double enlistments!"
"Oh, a million or two."
ut would crowd 'em to 20 much over half
million. Now, it is true there are hundreds
OF the survivors i'll this city, and probably
$4,000 in all the north and the territories; but
am positive there are not $4,000 in all the
sixteen southern states today-not one man
to fifty of the entire population. You can
see by the census that all the white people in
the Confederate states in 1861 were no more
than 5, 750, 900 at the outside Now, what is
the biggest per cent. of its population that
country can send to war? believe no coun-
try i'll the world ever sent one in seven; and,
situated as the south was-a big territory and
4,00O,0 900 slaves-it couldn't have sent one in
eight"
"But did you not get many from the bor-
der states-states that did not secede!"
mot so many as the Federals got from the
states that did secede. Blaine's book says the
two balanced; but lie only counts the men
from inside the Confederacy that were actu-
ally counted In the Federal army, while, in
fact, there were twice that many refugees"
but did not your close conscrption get
more than one in eight?"
"Close conscription where? When that was
enforced one-haif the Con re.lerate territory
was i'll the Federal lines-all Tennessee, half
OF Mississippi, Alabama north of the river,
most of Louisiana and all the three states
west of the Mississippi were cut off, and clear
out of our jurisdic- ion. III fact, the last
conscription, the searching one, was only en-
forced i'll five states, and in part of them it
cost more than it came to- T e law exempted
men who worked twenty slaves, and, of
course, men had to be left at homo to run
ferries, railroads, etc. There is no way of
getting all the ab bodied mel of country
into ali army You must have some men to
hold the machinery of society together,
and i'll so big n region as the Con-
federacy there had to be good many
such. Now, divide all the white people in
the Confederacy by eight and you would have
7lS,O00, and that's about 100000 more than
ever were i'll the Confederate army It's
simple matter of ffgures-you can't get a
man where he isn't. Suppose they got every
man who could carry n gun, they would only
have 100000. Now, the Federal muster rolls
show that they had :35 600 white men from
the south, and the vote in the border states
i'll 1864 showed that a big majority of their
men was at home; SO where could the Con-
federacy have got the extra men? There is
ano; her way to get ut it, and that's the parole
lists Six different armies surrendered, and
all the paroles together amounted to 95, ,454
Now, add just as many more for guerrillas
and prisoners i'll the north, and you have but
1000; and then add another 100, 900 or more
for deserters who did not come in for paroles,
and still you haven't 10000 Confederate sol
diers at the end of the war. But, in fact, no
100000 failed to get paroles-every fellow
wanted one too bad-for we all thought it
was Il big protection to have parole Add
all that number, though, il you like, and then
add 5000 lost i'll the war tand that's more
than anybody claims), and you have then
but 60o.0 600. My own guess is that the Con-
federacy had, not counting double enlist
mentu, about $50, 900 actual men i'll arms from
first to last, and that over 100000 of them
outlasted the war;"
"And where are they nows"
an their graves, big majority of them.
You are as much mistaken about that as
the other, for the boys in gray died faster
after the war than the boys in blue They
averaged ten years older for one thing. and
then they didn't have good medicines when
they got sick in the army, and they were
mighty poor for a long time after they went
home Yes, reckon nigh to two-thirds of
the survivors are now gone. / tell that this
way: My regiment Mt the reunion could count
more than half already dead and I've asked
lots of other boys and never found one
that could say half the boys who came out
alive with him were alive now No, am
positive there are not in all the world today
$50, 600 Confederate soldiers alive, and of
them not more than 100 900 in the south-not
more than one in hundred of the whole
population there; not es many as there are
old Federal soldiers in the south"
"How do you make that outg'
"Why, the sixteen southern states, as the
army report says, furnished the Federals 1885,
600 white and about 145 900 black troops; SO
there were 500,0o0 And, with the Federals
that went south after the war, feel pretty
positive they outnumber the Confederates
now. Why, Chattanooga has twice as many
Feds as Confeds. The plain truth is, we are
a mighty small minority everywhere in the
south; but the living are the tough ones, any
how. The weakest died pretty fast just after
the surrender. and the living bid fair to hang
on good while. Yes. you may say, too,
that good deal bigger proportion of officers
lived than prlvates, because they were better
fxed-had more money generally So the
saying about every old 'Confed' being colo
mel or captain isn't all jokan
Whether correct or not, the veterans fig
ures are interesting. j. b. PARKE.
She Never Lived.
The woman who would be by her husband adored.
And ne'er be refused new hat,
Who'd always allow hi1n TO have the Inst word